Thursday, August 18, 2011

Before and after: Junior, a Bloodhound dog, had the excess skin cut away from his face in an £8,000 operation. Before the operation, left, he struggled to see

A couple saved their Bloodhound dog from going blind - with an £8,000-pound facelift.

Junior's rare skin disorder meant he had not grown into his skin properly and the weight of the excess flesh above his face had caused it to fold and cover his eyes.

So concerned owners Denise and David Smart, of Selby, North Yorkshire, took him for the operation which was a complete success.

Dog-lover: Denise Smart and her husband David spent £8,000 getting specialist surgery for their dog. It took a surgeon three hours to perform the operation

The couple told how they repeatedly took their five-year-old pooch to the vet where he at first had an eyelash removed.

But his condition did not improve and he began suffering from a problem called entropion which could have led to Junior - the offspring of a Crufts champion - permanently losing his sight.

Vets referred Denise and David to a specialist called Gary Lewin who performed the delicate facelift - which he later described as the most difficult he'd ever done - during a three-hour operation.

Junior's excess skin was removed allowing him to see clearly - and the couple say their pet has been given a new lease of life.

Parental support advisor Denise, 49, said: 'We got him when he was just a puppy and noticed he seemed to be in a lot of pain in his early life. He could hardly see and he used to get grumpy as a result.

'We have four other dogs and he was really twitchy with the others when they came up behind him.

'We took him to the vets and he had an eyelash removed because they thought that might have been scraping against his eye, but it didn't make much difference.